Earl Hurd
Filed under: People, Bray Productions, Terrytoons Animated Shorts, U.S.A., Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney,
Earl Hurd
Date of birth:14/09/1880
Date of death:28/09/1940
Birthplace:Kansas
Biography
Hurd was a pioneering American animator who worked at the beginning of the early animation age, noted for creating the silent animated short Bobby Bumpbs, and working for John Randolph Bray’s company Bray Productions. Together, the pair developed the technics of rationalized cel animation production, a product patented in 1914 that would go on to revolutionize the animation industry.
Career outline
Early on in his career, Earl Hurd worked as a comic strip artist, creating such strips as Trials of the Elder Mouse (1911-1015) and Susie Sunshins (1927-1929). Hurd worked for Paul Terry’s Terrytoons Studios before opening his own Earl Hurd Productions in 1923, and has also collaborated with Ub Iwerks, working as a storyboard artist at Disney.